Bible Facts About Eternal Life

Mark Lindley

            One of the most beautiful concepts of Scripture is the idea of eternal life. Man has a natural tendency to want to live. We try to eat right, exercise, take medicines, etcetera because we want to prolong our lives upon this earth. However, in spite of efforts to extend our lives, if the Lord doesn’t come first, we will all die physically (Hebrews 9:27).

            Nevertheless, followers of Christ have the assurance that beyond physical death there is eternal life. Jesus declared, “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:26). The following are facts that we should know about eternal life.

1. One can be assured of eternal life. John affirms that we can “know” we have eternal life: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1John 5:13).

2. Eternal life is a “promise:” “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life” (1John 2:25).

3. Christians can live “in hope” of eternal life. Paul wrote that we live “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).

4. Eternal life is to be enjoyed in its fullness “in the world to come.” “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).

5. Eternal life will be entered after the judgment: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal”  (Matthew 25:46).

            Now, let’s put it all together. While it is true that one can “know” he has eternal life, according to scripture, eternal life is “a promise.” Thus, the Christian lives in anticipation of receiving the “promise.” This promise is not to be realized in the here and now, but, according to Jesus, “in the world to come.” This is the Christian’s “hope” (see Titus 1:2).

            This promise is given to those who are “faithful unto death” (Revelation 2:10), to those who “sow to the Spirit that they might reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8), to those whose names will not be “blotted out of the book of life” (Exodus 32:32; Revelation 3:5), to those who “fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith” (2Timothy 4:6-8).